Graduate students and their supporters walked out of their classrooms and research labs at campuses in Southern California and across the nation Wednesday to protest a GOP plan that would classify their tuition waivers as taxable income.

Organized by graduate students at USC, thousands attended simultaneous rallies and a “Grad Tax Walk Out” on at least 60 campuses across 33 states. Students at all of the UC schools participated, organizers said, including UC Riverside, which held a “Grad Teach-In” featuring student speeches.

The students said most of them live on small stipends and would be financially crushed if a GOP tax plan, passed by the U.S. House of Representatives this month, becomes law.

“We would be paying taxes on money we don’t receive,” said USC grad student and organizer Nina Jhaveri, 33, a Newport Beach resident who said the tax increase would have a devastating impact on graduate students, leading many to drop out of school.

International graduate student Rainforest Scully holds a sign showing what he thinks of the GOP tax bill at a protest at UCI in Irvine on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Amanda Cullen, right, a second year PhD graduate student at UCI, shows why the graduate student tuition tax waiver should not be eliminated during a protest against the GOP tax bill in Irvine on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)

UCI graduate student John Mok tells the crowd why he is opposed to the GOP tax bill during a protest at UCI in Irvine on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)

As Kevin Kadowaki, right, of the UAW holds the board for her, UCI grad student Chae Yoo, left, writes a note about how the graduate tuition waiver allows her to pay her rent . The two attended the protest at UCI against the GOP tax bill in Irvine on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A student walks past a slogan written on the concrete by UCI graduate students protesting the GOP tax bill in Irvine on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Becky Grady, UCI graduate student and vice president of External Affairs for the Associated Graduate Students, addresses the crowd at a protest against the GOP tax bill in Irvine on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)

UCI graduate student Chae Yoo makes a sign during a protest against the GOP tax bill on the campus of UCI in Irvine on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017. The tax bill would treat tuition breaks as taxable income. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Associate research professor Perry Hoberman, right, gives a speech during the Grad Tax Walkout/Rally at the Tommy Trojan statue at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017. (Photo by Ed Crisostomo, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Mariel Bello, center, a graduate student in Clinical Science, joins other USC graduate students and their supporters as they gather during the Grad Tax Walkout/Rally at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017. (Photo by Ed Crisostomo, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Mariel Bello, left, a graduate student in Clinical Science, joins other USC graduate students and their supporters as they gather during Grad Tax Walkout/Rally in front of the Tommy Trojan statue at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017. (Photo by Ed Crisostomo, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

USC graduate students and their supporters gather during the Grad Tax Walkout/Rally at the Tommy Trojan statue at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017. (Photo by Ed Crisostomo, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

USC graduate students and their supporters gather during the Grad Tax Walkout/Rally at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017. (Photo by Ed Crisostomo, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Hannah Khoddam, a doctorate candidate in Clinical Psychology, gives a speech as USC graduate students and their supporters gather during the Grad Tax Walkout/Rally at the Tommy Trojan statue at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017. (Photo by Ed Crisostomo, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Mariel Bello, left, a graduate student in Clinical Science, joins other USC graduate students and their supporters as they gather during the Grad Tax Walkout/Rally at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017. (Photo by Ed Crisostomo, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Gilbert Felix, right, GSG director of external affairs and masters student in public policy at Price, gives a speech as USC graduate students and their supporters gather during the Grad Tax Walkout/Rally at the Tommy Trojan statue at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017. “USC graduate student Gov’t., is urging all grad/Ph.D. students to call the Senate and urge a No vote on the tax bill. This bill will hurt grad students by taxing their tuition and stipends at a higher rate,” said Felix. (Photo by Ed Crisostomo, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Hannah Khoddam, a graduate student PhD candidate in clinical psychology, gives a speech as USC graduate students and their supporters gather during the Grad Tax Walkout/Rally in front of the Tommy Trojan statue at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017. (Photo by Ed Crisostomo, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Gilbert Felix, right, GSG director of external affairs and a masters student in public policy at Price, gives a speech as USC graduate students and their supporters gather during the Grad Tax Walkout/Rally at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017. “USC graduate student Gov’t., is urging all grad/Ph.D. students to call the Senate and urge a No vote on the tax bill. This bill will hurt grad students by taxing their tuition and stipends at a higher rate,” said Gilbert Felix. (Photo by Ed Crisostomo, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

USC graduate students and their supporters gather during the Grad Tax Walkout/Rally at the Tommy Trojan statue at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017. (Photo by Ed Crisostomo, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

The House tax plan includes provisions that could impact higher education and families with children in college, including one that would eliminate a student-loan interest deduction allowing borrowers to deduct up to $2,500 annually. But on Wednesday, the attention was focused on a provision in the GOP tax plan that could increase graduate students’ taxes by as much as 400 percent.

“It would be crippling,” said Ben Leffel, 30, a UC Irvine Ph.D sociology student and teaching assistant. “The tax would force me to make a decision between rent and food. I’m already close enough to making those decisions now.”

Graduate students typically are paid stipends and granted free tuition in exchange for teaching classes and doing research. Under the new plan, the value of their tuition would be taxable. Now it is not.

They said they want to simplify the tax code, provide tax cuts and repeal portions of the Affordable Care Act. Both the House and the Senate measures would nearly double deductions to approximately $12,000 for individuals and about $24,000 for married couples.

Tuition varies even within the UC system; at UCLA, tuition and student fees for most doctoral and master’s programs are about $16,800 for California residents and about $32,000 for non-California residents.

“We live on extremely small stipends, between $18,000 and $22,000 a year,” said UCI graduate student Mary Schmitt, 38, a teaching assistant in the visual studies program.

Kurt Horner, a fifth-year UCI economics graduate student and a leader with the UAW 2865 union that helped organize the UCI walk-out, said the tax plan could cost him and most students in the public school at least $2,000 more annually in taxes. He makes $18,000 during the school year.

For out-of-state students and those in private school, the numbers are much higher.

At USC, Jhaveri receives a waiver on her tuition of nearly $44,000 a year and she’s paid a $29,500 stipend for her clinical psychology work.

“If you take $30,000 home and you’re paying taxes on close to $80,000, that’s not something you can live on,” she said.

Schmitt, of UCI, said: “In many ways, this is an attack on graduate education in general, because it’s going to become that much more unaffordable.”

Universities and educational organizations, including the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, have opposed the Republican tax reform package. UC said it threatens the nine-campus system’s ability “to carry out its research, education, health care, and public-service missions.”

“Ninety-six percent of our Ph.D students receive tuition waivers,” UCI Vice Provost and Dean Frances Leslie wrote in an e-mail to the Southern California News Group. “Since many of them are low income, this will mean that they may have to drop out. That will be a tremendous loss of talent to the state of California.”

As part of Wednesday’s protest, students and their supporters took to social media with the hashtags #gradtaxwalkout and #savegraded.

Some grad students said they were unclear on whether the proposed plan would also affect their fellowships, grants and scholarships. Max Chao, a full-time lecturer who specializes in tax law at the UCI Paul Merage School of Business, said there’s some uncertainty.

“It seems related to any grant or fellowship but I can’t say for certain,” Chao said. “It’s so vague.”

But tuition waivers for undergraduate students, including those in community colleges, are unlikely to be affected because undergrads do not receive them in exchange for work performed, Chao said.

Other deductions and credits for college students that could be affected:

An annual deduction of up to $2,500 for student-loan interest would be eliminated.

An annual deduction of up to $4,000 for tuition and fees paid for college would be eliminated.

An annual American Opportunity tax credit of up to $2,500 for the first four years of college would be extended to five years under the House plan.

The Lifetime Learning credit, which offers an annual credit of up to $2,000 for students continuing their college education after the initial four years, would be eliminated under the House plan; the Senate plan would keep both credits intact.

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